Black Sheep
by Smithy13
Summary: A young girl decides to go with Zuko and Iroh to capture the Avatar. From there on things start to change, but for the better or worse? Uncertain pairings and probably yaoi/slash. This story has an OC and raiting may go up.
1. Iroh and Zuko Meet the Blonde

Akane knew that she was different than the rest of her family; she was the only blonde in the whole of Fire Nation. But it wasn't like the 13-yearold minded; she was all too fine with being a special one.

Today was a warm day and Akane was staring at the other children playing with each other and laugh loudly. At times like this she felt lonely and she hugged her light-brown toy-bunny tightly against her chest.

As she was watching the children she didn't hear the steps coming from behind her, only then did she notice that someone when a voice told, "So you're the only blonde in the Fire Nation."

Akane spun around, only to meet the golden eyes of the Fire Nation Prince. The young man's hair was in a ponytail and the rest of his head had been shaved clean, his left side of the face was covered with a rather big, red scar.

Prince Zuko glared at the blonde, who was seemingly trying to figure out what to say and how to approach the other. With a sigh the prince bowed slightly, "I'm Prince Zuko and you?"

"Akane," the girl replied, her lips quirking into a small smile of sorts, "It's a pleasure to meet you, Prince Zuko."

"The pleasure's all mine. But how about we go on a walk?" the young man grinned a small grin and Akane found herself nodding.

When they stood side by side, walking, Akane noticed that she wasn't really that short. The top of her head reached Zuko's shoulder, though that was to be expected – the prince was rather tall after all.

"I heard our parents knew each other," Zuko told, once they had made it away from the children by a handful of foots.

Akane shrugged, "Figures. Strange we haven't met before."

"Mhm…" the prince hummed softly and looked up at the clear, blue sky. While at the same time Akane adjusted her toy-rabbit against her chest.

The two reached a bench and Zuko sat down, he eyed the young girl with curiosity, the only blonde in the Fire Nation and daughter of one of the few Generals his father still fully trusted.

"Don't you want to sit?" Zuko asked as the other didn't sit.

Akane shook her head, "No, I'd rather stand, I've sat long enough."

A long silence ensued; it was broken by the girl, who asked, "I heard you were goin after the Avatar…"

"Yes…" it had surprized the prince that Akane even knew about it but what she was going to say would surprize Zuko even more.

"I want to come with you."

The Prince of Fire Nation stared at the petite, blonde girl in front of himself. She was holding a toy-rabbit and she looked like a complete child. Though she wanted to go with him to hunt the Avatar.

The brunette raised an eyebrow, "You want to come with me to catch the Avatar?"

"Yes," Akane nodded and offered the young man a small smile, hoping that Zuko would agree to take her with him.

"What would your parents think?" the prince asked, hoping that her parents would oppose, taken he really didn't want to drag this girl into the midst of fighting and dying.

Akane smiled bitterly and decided to finally sit down onto the rock bench, "They don't care nor mind. If it was theirs to do I would have died a long time ago."

Those words came out of Akane's mouth with ease and Zuko found himself understanding the girl's reasoning – she wanted to get away from home and he seemed like an easy way for it.

"Can you bend?" Zuko found himself curious about whether or not Akane was able to bend fire and if she was then how good was she.

The girl nodded, "I can. Pretty well too."

"How well?" was the prince's next question.

"Well enough to fight," Akane told with a small smile on her rosy lips, assuring the other that she could survive whatever came her way.

"I guess… you can come…"

As those words had left the prince's lips Akane beamed and thanked Zuko, "Thank you, thank you, thank you! You don't know how much this means to me!"

Even though the Prince of the Fire Nation wanted to say that he knew and understood exactly what it meant for her, he still kept quiet and grinned lightly.

Just as the girl was going to ask something a third person had made it to the bench, this time it was the grey-haired General Iroh – Zuko's Uncle and father figure.

"Do you two youngsters want any tea?" the old man asked with a pleasant smile on his lips.

Akane nodded, but the prince himself just shook his head and sighed softly. The real reason that Iroh had probably come there was that he wanted to know more about the only blonde in the Fire Nation.

In a few moments Iroh came back with two cups of tea, one for himself and the other for Akane.

"What sort of tea is this?" the girl asked curiously, taking in the tea's scent. The old general handed her a cup and continued smiling his pleasant smile.

"Jasmine Tea, my own personal favourite."

The blonde firebender settled her toy-rabbit down between herself and Zuko (who to Iroh's great surprize didn't mind) and sighed contently, "It's my favourite as well."

"Do you drink tea frequently?" Iroh intrigued, it seemed that he was more interested on finding out about Akane's views on tea rather than finding out her views on anything else.

"No, not really," Akane smiled bitterly. "My parents refuse to buy any… They refuse to waste any money on me to be truthful."

The grey-haired and grey-bearded man frowned and took a sip of his tea. "But you're staying here for a while now, aren't you?"

"I… um…" the girl looked at the prince, who gestured for her to continue, and then added, "I'm coming with you to capture the Avatar."

Zuko decided that it was a good time to stand up and offer his seat to his uncle, taken he didn't want to bump into Azula before bed on that day. And if he wanted to go to bed without an encounter with his sister he was going to have to make it to his room before dinner ended.

Iroh gladly took the seat offered to him and watched in silence as Zuko bid goodnight to him and the girl, after that his nephew left towards the palace.

"Why would you want to come with us?" the old general asked from Akane.

"I want to go somewhere and you're going wherever the Avatar is." Was the girl's explanation.

Iroh nodded as the other sipped her tea. After a short silence the old firebender asked another question: "Do you know how to deal with anger-issues?"

"A tad bit," Akane told, though she already knew who he was talking about – Zuko.

"That's good enough."

There was a soft, peaceful silence between the two of them as they both watched the sky turn a soft shade of red and Akane realized that she and Iroh were the only two there – all the children had gone inside at some point.

It was also getting a bit chilly outdoors, if they were anywhere else one of the two firebenders would have made a fire, but since they were just a few feet away from the palace they weren't going to do that.

Just as the tea had been finished and Iroh and Akane had started to make their way back towards the palace the old general had realized that he hadn't heard the girl's name.

"Excuse me, but I don't think I heard your name," the tea-fanatic told with a pleasant smile.

"Akane," was the other's reply and after that she scurried away quickly, waving her hand at Iroh.

Iroh wasn't certain whether he had ever seen someone so different than the rest of people than the little blonde girl with her toy-rabbit. But there was one thing Iroh was certain about and that was the fact that this girl – Akane – would prove most important at one point.


	2. On The Watery Way

Akane was sitting next to her parents at the breakfast table; her mother was glaring at her with disgust and her father was engaged in conversation with the Fire Lord Ozai. Azula and Zuko were in the middle of a staring contest and Iroh was talking about tea with Akane, who sometimes nodded and murmured her agreement.

In a few minutes breakfast was over and most of the people just left to somewhere, leaving Iroh, Zuko and Akane at the table all alone.

"We're leaving at noon today," the prince told coldly and then left the dining room just as the rest had.

"I've never been on a _mission_ like that before, what will I need with me?" the girl turned to Iroh.

The old general smiled his pleasant smile, "Everything you have with you here. I doubt we'll be returning."

To the man's surprize Akane didn't seem taken aback or even scared at the fact that they might never come back to the Fire Nation because of very different reasons. The young firebender just picked her toy-rabbit up and nodded, "Thank you, sir."

"No needs for sir, Akane," Iroh chuckled, "Just call me Uncle Iroh."

The girl let out a small giggle, "As you wish… Uncle Iroh."

With that the young girl left to pack her belongings for the long mission (or trip for Akane) they were going on.

In a few hours a ship of iron was waiting for them at the port. Unsurprisingly there was no one bidding farewell to them, but it hadn't been expected by anyone, not by Zuko, not by Akane and not by Iroh.

Aboard the ship Zuko, Iroh and Akane got their own rooms, they were small rooms, but not uncomfortable in the least.

Akane's room was directly between the others' rooms and hers was also the smallest, though the girl didn't whine, she liked the soft bed and the fact that there were torches on the walls, lighting the little, dark space with pinkish light.

The girl unpacked her things and then took a look at herself from her mirror; she was wearing an ink-black coat with red dragons on it and a pair of black shorts. For footwear she had a pair of brown boots, which had a little of red on the edges as well.

Akane's short, blonde hair had become messy, but she didn't mind, in fact she ruffled it even more. After that she took a small pedant out of her pocket and tied it around her slender, pale neck.

She hadn't been able to wear this pedant when her parents were around, taken she wasn't allowed privileges like jewellery and fancy clothes at her home. The pedant had detailed flames engraved on it and the words "Deep Red" written on it in gothic lettering.

Suddenly there was a loud knock on the door of her room, she responded in inviting whoever was there in.

Iroh stood there and looked at the girl with a soft smile, "I wondered whether you'd like to join me for tea on the main deck."

"Of course I would," Akane said with a small smirk playing on her lips.

The two of them walked up to the main deck and watched at the land getting further away from the iron ship.

A soldier brought two teacups and a teapot filled with hot tea, Iroh handed one cup to Akane and took the other to his hand. Then he poured tea into both cups and observed at Zuko yelled orders to soldiers, who were running at all directions.

"Is he always like this?" the girl asked, looking amusedly at the prince.

The old general nodded and smiled at his nephew.

"Maybe you'd like some tea to calm your nerves, Zuko," Iroh offered, only to be answered with an icy glare and a huff.

"Make sure we make it to our destination at dawn!" the Prince of Fire Nation yelled and ordered the crew.

Akane sighed softly as everything became a tad bit calmer, Zuko wasn't yelling at much and the crew was doing and taking things a little less chaotically.

"Where exactly are we going?" the young, female firebender asked after she had taken a sip or two from her teacup.

The grey-haired man smiled pleasantly, "The Southern Water Tribe probably, unless the Avatar leaves from there before we make it there."

"It going to be an endless hunt, isn't it?" Akane let out a soft sigh as she received a nod in return from Iroh.

For a few hours they stayed quiet and just sipped their tea while Zuko ordered everyone around and made sure every, single man on board knew he was the boss and no one seemed to even dare to cross him.

"We ought to go inside; it's getting quite chilly out here, isn't it?" the girl asked when she noticed that most of the crew was shivering and whimpering because of the cold.

The old man nodded and agreed. Though when he asked his nephew whether he wanted to join them inside the prince just gestured for them to leave, which Akane and Iroh happily did.

Once the two of them were seated on the lower floors of the ship and there was a new pot of tea for them to drink Iroh asked, "Why haven't you asked about his scar? Everyone do."

"I know about it," the girl told in response, her voice was grim and bitter. "I heard about his father, the scar and the banishment as well."

At that the older one frowned, he hadn't thought anyone outside the Fire Nation Capital. Though it was obvious that Akane had heard, but her sources could have been inside the Fire Nation Capital.

"Where'd you hear it from?" Iroh couldn't resist asking that.

The younger one shrugged, "Azula does tell everything you ask."

The prince's uncle nodded in understanding – Azula truly told it all when it came to Zuko, she didn't care about him in the least.

"So this is a mission of regaining honour, getting his life back and for what it's worth never returning, am I correct?" Akane intrigued, looking into her teacup and the dark tea in there.

Iroh nodded, "It has different meanings, but in general it's a mission of never coming back for all of us… Some die, some leave and some just go missing…"

The young girl then suggested, "How about a different subject?"

"Tell me about yourself," the old general had been interested in finding out more about her for a long time now. "If you're alright with it of course.

"It's only fair for you to know more about me, isn't it? I'm kind of a black sheep in my family, all thanks to my lovely golden curls… But anyhow, I haven't been outside out house much at all and my parents haven't been allowing any jewellery or fancy clothes for me either. Though now that I'm out of their hands I'm free of whatever bonds I had connecting them to me."

Throughout the short story Iroh realized what had probably been the reason of Akane being allowed on the ship – Zuko understood her and vice versa.

The grey-haired man smiled contently, he had just gotten more knowledge when it came to Zuko. The prince had a few weaknesses, but one of them was this little, blonde Akane.

The silence between the two of them was broken by the creaking of the door and a few steps. Iroh was the first to look up at the door, there stood a rather groggy and apparently angry Zuko.

"Are you alright, Zuko?" the prince's uncle asked, worry lacing his voice.

"I'm fine," the young man huffed out and looked at Akane. Even if his words said the opposite the look in Zuko's eyes made it obvious that he was tired and angry.

"You should go to sleep," it was the girl who spoke up this time, earning a glare from the Prince of Fire Nation. At the glare the younger firebender corrected her words, "You need to sleep, Zuko."

The dark-haired prince decided to agree with the blonde and he made to leave, only to say before going to bed, "Good night, Akane."

"I'll go to bed as well, before I become like him, "Akane told and left the room to go to bed.

Iroh just smiled contently, "The two are more alike than I thought," though it wasn't long before the grey-haired and –bearded man went to bed himself.


End file.
